Sno-Traveler Article - Late Winter 2010
March 30, 2010
Editors Note: This article was submitted late and did not make the deadline for the Sno-Traveler
March 2010 Sno-Traveler
White Mountain Ridge Runners
Berlin, NH
Larry Gomes, Assistant Trail Master
It has been a very strange winter this year with lots of cold and no snow followed by lots of snow and no cold. In spite of these conditions, our volunteer grooming crew has done an outstanding job in keeping our trails open and flat.
Following the trend of the last few years, traffic on our trail system continues to increase. Many riders we met over the winter have been driving to Twin Mountain and then riding up to our trail system from there. Partially as a result of these riders, traffic on Corridor 11 continues to climb and next year we are hoping to have enough operators so we can run a groomer on it every day.
The best news of all is that after 5 long years, logging in Jericho Mountain Park has finally come to an end. With the heavy snow in late February, the club started putting some of the trails that have been closed all season back into service. Next year, ALL of our trails in Jericho Park will be open and we are looking forward to being able to spread the traffic out over more trails.
We had a good turnout at our annual Hamburg and Steak Feed. The event was moved up to mid-February instead of late February and also combined with an open house at Jericho Motorsports. Due to the marginal snow conditions, attendance was down from prior years, but everyone had a great time and raved about the food. Several dozen riders got to take test rides on new Arctic Cat demo sleds provided by Jericho Motorsports and we may work on having a similar event next year.
The Easter Seals Ride-In was held again at the Balsams in Dixville Notch this year. Our club contributed a total of $3,505 for Camp Sno-Mo, which was the highest amount raised by any of the 16 clubs in Coos County. We also received a prize for raising the 5th largest amount of money statewide. This is the second year in a row that we have won both of these awards and many thanks to all of you who contributed. Also thanks to Kate for making dozens of calls to ask for donations to help us make our goal. Because of your contributions, at least 4 kids with disabilities will be able to attend Camp Sno-mo next summer tuition free.
We have another busy off-season of trail improvements planned for next summer and fall. We are planning to do major work to PT109 through Milan and Stark and also on Corridor 19 between Head Pond Road and the power line.
As always we are looking for help with these projects. I know many of you are busy, but if each rider would give us just ONE DAY of time, we could get these projects done without burning out our regular group of volunteers.
Also you will find that working on these projects is really a lot of fun. If you are coming from a long distance, we will even provide FREE accommodations. So please send an email to larry@twolakeslodge.com to get your name on our trail work contact list.
We are still working on getting trails through to Nay Pond and Cedar Pond. We encourage any riders who are interested in seeing these trails established to contact us as soon as possible. We need people who live in the area to help talk with landowners so we can get the necessary paperwork signed to make these trails a reality.
Check our website weekly during the off-season at www.whitemtridgerunners.com to keep up with the latest developments. Thanks for riding our trails and supporting the club!